A quickly moving storm was just enough to give us another taste of winter early in the week as it brought steady rainfall to the valley and six inches of snow to the Sierra.
Another active storm system arrives on Wednesday, bringing rain and snow showers to the region through Saturday. Our First Alert Weather team has created First Alert Action days on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as wetter weather returns to Northern California.
1st round: Wednesday – Thursday
Wednesday will start dry, while clouds and wind will increase during the morning. The day starts off chilly before temperatures climb into the 50s and 60s.
On the other side of the Sierra the wind comes up first and remains strong all afternoon. A wind advisory has been issued as gusts range from 20-50 MPH, with higher wind speeds across the Sierra ridges.
Across the valley, it will be a breezy start to the day with winds of 15-35 MPH.
Rain will begin in the Sacramento Valley between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The showers will move in from the Coastal Range and spread to the southeast during the day. As the cold front moves through, a quick round of steadier rain showers will arrive Wednesday evening, especially north of I-80. Most of the San Joaquin Valley will see little to no rain.
Snow levels in the Sierra will start at 5,000 to 6,000 feet and slowly decrease through Wednesday evening. The snow will be light to moderate at first. Expect the heaviest snow to develop over the passes by early evening.
Travel will be difficult at times, so make sure you are prepared if you have to travel through the Sierra. You can expect chain checks and travel delays from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning.
2nd round: Thursday evening – Friday
Snow levels will be around 4,500-5,500 feet Thursday morning, but most of the snow will be light. Expect a lull in activity the day before the second wave arrives.
Rain will fall across the valley and foothills on Thursday, with some breaks of sunshine in between. Any solar breakthrough will increase instability in the atmosphere and increase the chance of thunderstorms through Thursday afternoon.
Developing thunderstorms may bring heavy rain, lightning, gusty winds and small hail.
Showers will continue through Thursday evening and snowfall will increase again Thursday evening through Friday.
From Thursday night to Friday, colder air flows in and the snow level drops below 1,500 meters. Friday morning we could see snow levels as high as 4,000 feet. Heavy snow may fall at times on Friday afternoon. Expect chain checks and delays as you travel over the passes.
Rain will begin to taper off in the valley and foothills from Friday evening. Most of the valley will be dry Friday evening with lingering snow showers in the foothills and Sierra through early Saturday.
Multi-day storm totals
Adding up the next three days, precipitation will be favorable from the Valley to the Sierra.
In the Valley, amounts range from 0.10-0.25” in the San Joaquin Valley, with higher amounts as you get north of Sacramento. In the foothills, 1/2 to 1 inch of rain is expected Saturday morning. The amounts will increase the further north of I-80 you go.
The next three days will help many ski areas prepare for their opening days.
Expect 6 to 12 inches of snow to be expected for elevations above 6,000 feet. At higher peaks, locally 18 to 24 centimeters of snow may fall on Saturday.
The highest amounts from this storm will occur in locations such as Donner Summit, Kirkwood, and Bear Valley, to name a few.
Again, make sure you’re prepared for winter travel if your plans take you through the Sierra this week.
The weekend
The start of the weekend will be cool with more sunshine in the valley and foothills. Most snow showers in the Sierra will begin to taper off Saturday morning with more sunshine in the afternoon.
Highs in the valley and foothills will be in the low 60s and 50s, with low 40s in the Sierra on Saturday afternoon.
There will be another brief pause in our active pattern on Saturday before another storm system moves in on Sunday evening.
It looks like this storm system will move in faster than the storm at the end of the week. But if enough cold air is already present, we could get another 1 to 6 inches of snow in the Sierra from Sunday through Monday, November 18. More rain is expected to return to the valley and foothills, especially on Monday.
Be sure to stay with the CBS Sacramento First Alert Weather team as we monitor the potential impacts this next storm could have on the start of the upcoming work week.
